Record Number: 6957

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

[Marginalia]: some pencil marks and marginal ms notes throughout the text. Generally they highlight points of grammar or translation, mostly in English but at least one is in Persian (p. 132). Examples: title page "x While the nightingale, oh Hafiz, makes a boast [?] of his eloquence, do thou lessen [?] the value of his life, by singing thy Persian strains" [translation of Persian quote on title page, similarly marked ie 'x'?]; p.100/101 is bookmarked with a scrap of contemporary newspaper and the text line 'By the approach of Spring, and the return of December, the leaves of our life are continually folded' is annotated with underlines and alternative translations above words.

Century:

1700-1799, 1800-1849

Date:

unknown

Country:

Scotland or India

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

John Drummond Erskine

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

Apr 1776

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry

Occupation:

East India Company writer, later landowner

Religion:

unknown

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

Scotland or India

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

Identification of reader is inferred from provenance

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

William Jones

Title:

Grammar of the Persian Language, A

Genre:

Language

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

The third edition with an index, London: Printed by W. Richardson for J. Murray, 1783

Provenance

owned

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

6957

Source - Manuscript:

Other

Author:

Book with annotations in the Dunimarle Library of the Erskines of Torrie in Fife: Jones, William, "A grammar of the Persian language. By William Jones", (London, 1783), various pages, [DH LIB 748].,

Citation:

Book with annotations in the Dunimarle Library of the Erskines of Torrie in Fife: Jones, William, "A grammar of the Persian language. By William Jones", (London, 1783), various pages, [DH LIB 748]., http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=6957, accessed: 25 April 2024

---

Additional Comments:

The form, handwriting (small and neat) and subject of the annotations matches those of other John Drummond Erskine items in the collection but some of the annotations are in a scrawling style though content remains the same. JDE was known to have eyesight problems, which could explain the change but this is a very tentative suggestion. If annotations are by JDE, they would have been done between the late 1790s and 1836.